Country band to play Lodi venue

"I've never done an interview while doin' my grocery shoppin' before," the veteran country singer said with a laugh. "My wife's probably gonna be wonderin' what the heck all this stuff is."

Some of it was "really big, seasoned cowboy bacon hamburger patties."

Chesnutt's got three teenage sons - one of them's a football player - to feed at home in Beaumont, Texas.

A country music traditionalist whose down-home style has fed a 24-year career of record- and hit-making, Chesnutt still reflects the small-town ethos that's helped sustain real-deal southeast Texas musicians such as George Jones - a major influence on Chesnutt's life and career - Tracy Byrd and Clay Walker.

The 49-year-old singer, songwriter and guitar player will be relying upon his roots Friday when his four-piece band plays an acoustic show at Lodi's Hutchins Street Square.

He's also got that wry, wizened, Texas wit. His 23-year-old music company is called Nada Dinero.

"Oh, it's just a little cute name my manager decided on when we started," Chesnutt said with a chuckle. "We couldn't understand why there was no money. When you think about it, though, if someone tried to sue us, who'd wanna sue a company called 'no money?' "

Being penniless, however, hasn't been much of an issue since Chesnutt got going in 1988, when the new traditionalists rolled into Nashville, Tenn. He's released 14 recordings and totaled nine No. 1 country singles.

"The audience gets to request songs and we play off each other. Sometimes, we do songs you'd never expect from us. I'm not gonna say. People have to see for themselves. It's wild and unplugged and unplanned."

That kind of was the case with Chesnutt's career. His father, Bob, was a record collector and role model. Mark dropped out of high school as a sophomore and started earning his country-music diploma.

"My daddy was a singer," said Chesnutt, who played and sang in his dad's bands for 10 years. "He taught me everything I know. I had a lot of background I just inherited. I just started singin'. I kept singin'. One thing led to another and here I am today.

"Daddy had regional records. He didn't wanna live up in Nashville. It was a crazy life."

Chesnutt's followed that example, preferring the comparative calm of home despite his five platinum-selling albums - including "Too Cold at Home" (1990), "Long Necks & Short Stories" (1992) and "Almost Gooodbye" (1993).

Fortunately, Chesnutt's success had started by November 1990, when Bob Chesnutt died from a heart attack at age 56.

"He said, 'If you're gonna drop out of high school, you can't stop,' " Chesnutt recalled. "He'd keep his foot up my butt: 'Don't get off on the wrong foot and be a bum.' He saw the initial success. He was really excited and scared at the same time."

However, Jones - the 81-year-old Country Music Hall of Fame member from Saratoga, Texas - had been a lifelong musical buddy and friend of Chesnutt's dad.

"He called when daddy died and said, 'If you ever need any advice just call me,' " Chesnutt said. "I've been friends with Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard. It's just been a dream come true to still be doing what I love to do. It's just a blessing."

The two Hank Williamses, Haggard, Jennings, George Strait and Willie Nelson made major impacts on Chesnutt while "George was probably the biggest. I got started in a lot of the same clubs he did."

Chesnutt, also a major Elvis Presley admirer who enjoyed the '70s rock of Van Halen and Aerosmith, proudly points out the southeast Texas roots of Janis Joplin, Harry James and ZZ Top.

Chesnutt, who performed at the San Joaquin County Fair in 2001 and during a KAT Country show at Stockton's Weber Point Events Center in 2011, isn't stuck in the Texas backwoods, though.

He's been trying some new things and gets a kick out of watching slicked-up prime-time country music awards shows that help expand the music's audience.

"Live From the Big D," his independently released 2011 live album, is a "retro thing" recorded 10 years ago at a Dallas club. Chesnutt's band was touring with Strait, a fellow Texan and Stetson hat man.

Even back then, "we were experimenting with some new gear we'd just acquired," Chesnutt said. "We were learning how to work it. We were free to do anything we wanted. We thought, 'You know what? This is really, really cool.' Some guys are playing horns."

Chesnutt does remain a bit mystified by "Your Room," a project released on Aug. 26 that he "kind of thought was a little weird."

Recorded in Los Angeles, it's a 3D Blu-ray production Chesnutt hasn't seen yet.

"I thought, we ought to give it a shot," he said. "We had nothing to lose. I'm the first country artist to try it. We tried to get the sound right and it took a lot of time. It was frustrating.

"I have three copies, but I don't have the equipment to play them. My managers are all raving. They say it's really great. Really cool. We're gonna have a viewing party so I can see it."

Right at home in Beaumont, of course.

"I prefer to stay here with friends and family," said Chesnutt, who's been married to Tracie, a painter and photographer, for 20 years: "She's very talented, a great mother and a great cook."